A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY WARHAMMER 40000 UNIVERSE
by Pawnofhearts
Summary: This is a history of the War40k universe. An attempt to sum up every race, their major interactions and also pre- imperium history. Yes, I haven't updated for so long you all have forgotten I exist.
1. Chapter 1

**A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY WARHAMMER 40000 UNIVERSE**

Sources include **Lexicanum **and the **Black Library.**

**Chapter One: The Old Ones.**

The Old Ones were the eldest of all space-faring races, possessing an advanced civilization long before the development of the major races of the current age. They were the first race to achieve a galactic civilization. Only the C'tan Star Gods in their incorporeal state - born at the creation of the universe itself - surpass them in age.

The Old Ones likely were the most influential species to exist - they were instrumental in the development of many of the current sentient races, and, possessing the role of galactic-level architects at such a primal epoch, the state of the present galaxy is likely ultimately a reflection of many of the decisions made eons ago by the Old Ones.

The race remembered now only as the "Old Ones" had developed terrestrially into a sentient species like most of the galaxy's other commonplace biological species several billion years before the creation of Earth. The Old Ones possessed a slow, cold-blooded wisdom. Their science was advanced to such a point that it was indistinguishable from sorcery. Their understanding of the universe allowed them to exploit the alternate universes such as the Warp and engage in psychic engineering.

Finding themselves to be virtually alone in the galaxy, they took it upon themselves to make worlds more favorable to support life, and they seeded other worlds with new lifeforms. They visited many worlds, and using primitive species as a stock, they created new and sentient species, which they continued to nurture. Many of the habitable and inhabited worlds in existence were terraformed from often barren worlds which were developed and seeded with life by the Old Ones.

The Old Ones created many races to serve them including the Slann, Krork, and the Jokaero. The Slann were probably the foremost servants of the Old Ones and may have been one of the earliest races created. The Old Ones are also reputed to have predicted the downfall of the Eldar and the resultant creation of Slaanesh, and gave control of the Webway to the Eldar both in order to escape the Fall and to aid them in the waragainst the Necron- C'tan empire.

This brings us onto the fall of the Old ones: Wars with the Necrons.

One of the few already sentient races the Old Ones encountered were the Necrontyr, who at the time were in the midst of a slow expansion to distant planets. The lives of the Necrontyr were short and painful due to the deadly radiation of their world's sun. When they met the Old Ones, they developed a deep jealous hatred of them due to their near immortal lives. This resentment led to the First War. The Necrontyr's war was futile and they were forced back to a remote world in the outer rim of the Halo Stars. The fury of the Necrontyr cooled over thousands of years of imprisonment, but they turned their hatred against all life rather than just the Old Ones.

The Necrontyr had studied their star for millions of years. In their quest for a weapon to use against the Old Ones, they found the C'tan. Gradually they managed to talk with these ethereal creatures, but they knew they would never be able to understand the material universe without a material body. So the Necrontyr built the living metal bodies they are still adorned with. They were worshiped as gods, as their powers were far beyond anything the Necrontyr had seen before. As the C'tan became more manifest in their bodies, they began to enjoy certain aspects of life more, including pain, suffering and slavery.

Eventually, with the gods themselves at their sides, the Necrontyr were ready to begin their war with the Old Ones anew. The C'tan offered the Necrontyr escape from the curse of their short lives. Their minds would be transferred into living metal bodies, much like the C'tan themselves. Whether the Necrontyr knew what they would lose by doing this will never be known, but the process destroyed their race. They gained immortality but lost their free-will. Their minds were dulled and only a few retained any independent thought, but this was still only a fraction of what it had been. With the Necrontyr destroyed and the Necron born, the C'tan began the war against the Old Ones with their legions of undying warriors.

The Old Ones were sent reeling. They could not match the cold science of the Necrons and were pushed back. Millions were slaughtered and eventually the Necrons dominated the galaxy. The last bastions of the Old Ones power were besieged and many of the younger races were completely destroyed.

The Old Ones eventually came to the conclusion that they needed to create warrior and psychic races with the specific purpose of combating the Necrons. These races are thought to have included the Eldar, the Rashan, and the K'nib.

The introduction of these warlike and often psychic races into the galaxy had the side effect of warping the Warp - the war, pain, and destruction of the galaxy during the conflict was reflected in the Warp, and the innocuous entities which naturally existed in the Warp were twisted into voracious and hostile predators. Ultimately this would lead to the destruction of the Old Ones.

The C'tan empire could not counter this new form of warfare. Eventually they became devoted to severing reality's relationship to the Immaterium in order to make psychic powers useless.

Eventually, with the eruption of the Enslaver Plague on the galaxy, the Old Ones were broken and scattered. It is believed they have died out, although sightings are occasionally reported.

One cannot deny the effect the Old Ones had on the galaxy; it is belived that they were responsible for the creation of the Eldar, Humans, and Orks and countless minor races.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Necrons and the C'Tan**

The Necrontyr were an ancient and long-extinct race of humanoids. The planet they originated on was barren and radiation-blasted, making it incredibly hostile to life. It was so hostile that plasma storms and atomic winds constantly scoured its surface. Life on the planet was harsh; lives were short and uncertain. Their bodies were ridden with radiation sickness and they lived a morbid life, constantly fearful of their coming death.

The Necrontyr attempted to master science, unlike the Old Ones who used psychic power and links to the Immaterium to advance themselves. They learned after thousands of years that they could not control their destiny with science. Their bodies could not be changed to survive on the planet and not suffer from the radiation sickness and perpetual fear of death. Their cities were built in anticipation of their demise, and simply became vast tomb complexes with a few homes for the living, in a temporary form.1

Eventually they developed sufficient technology to move out to other planets. They did not have the abilities of the Old Ones to move between the stars in seconds, and had to use slow-moving stasis crypts and slow-burning torch ships to gradually grope out to other stars. They clad their ships in their living metal to withstand the rigors of space flight. After much time, they met the Old Ones. This meeting of a short-lived, dour race to a race of hopeful and nigh-immortal people set a fire of rage burning in the hearts of the Necrontyr. From this moment on, they turned their entire lives to destroying the Old Ones in spite of their superior lifestyles.

When war was declared, the Necrontyr realized they would never be able to win. They were constantly outmaneuvered by the Old Ones mastery of the Webways. Eventually they were pushed back to merely an annoyance in the outer regions among the Halo Stars. The fury of the Necrontyr was cooled after many thousands of years of imprisonment, and their disgust of the Old Ones turned into an utter hatred of all life.1

As their star had haunted their own existence, the Necrontyr studied the stars in an attempt to understand more of how they worked and to try to find something they could unleash on the Old Ones. Eventually, they found something so ancient as to predate even the Old Ones. This sentience fed on the stars they orbited but had little conception of the universe around them other than satisfying their need for energy. This was the weapon they needed to fight the Old Ones. Their etheric form made them invincible to conventional weapons. They were named C'tan, or Star Gods.1

How the Necrontyr managed to communicate with these beings is unknown, but the Necrontyr knew these beings could not understand the material universe without a physical, material body. So they made bodies for these creatures out of their living metal, allowing these bodies to expand and change at the will of the being enclosed. Supposedly, "translucent streams of force" were seen as the first being moved across the incorporeal starlight bridge into the body forged for it.1

The first being to come across the starlight bridge was the Nightbringer. As the creature became more manifest and intelligent, the Necrontyr fell in awe of their discovery. Shortly after, the Necrontyr began to worship the C'tan as gods for their supreme powers. The C'tan turned the Necrontyr into slaves and enjoyed ruling over them with cruelty and distrust.1

Soon the Necrontyr were ready to begin the battle anew with the Old Ones. The C'tan then made a proposition to the Necrontyr that they could not refuse. The C'tan offered immortality for the race. Their cursed flesh would be discarded in favor of bodies like their gods, made of living metal. Their bodies would be consumed and their minds transferred into the new metal bodies with which they could continue the war with the Old Ones. Whether the Necrontyr knew the consequences of this is unknown, but their entire race was purged when transferred into the metal bodies. Their minds were dulled and they were drawn into eternal servitude. Only a few of the Necrontyr retained any form of independent thought, but it was much reduced. The Necrontyr were no more, and the Necrons were born.

Now focusing on gathering souls, the C'tan assaulted the Old Ones, and began an unstoppable march upon their domain. The Necrons burst into the Old One's strongest fortresses, overcoming their magics and technology.

The surviving Old Ones began to seed planets with life to help fight the C'tan, including the Eldar and Krork. These races had the ability to use the Warp to defend themselves, as the C'tan seemed harmed only by psychic energy. Gradually, the Old Ones were forced back by the relentless push of the C'tan and billions of souls were harvested for the Star Gods, increasing their power to incredible proportions.

The C'tan had been working on a plan to cripple the Old Ones, and eventually it came to fruition. They burst into and destroyed the Webways discovered by the Old Ones. Without these portals, the Old Ones were unable to move troops throughout the galaxy. With the new races using so much Warp power for the purposes of killing, the benign creatures in the Warp mutated into the evil creatures they are today. At the precipice of victory, the Enslavers emerged from the now-tumultuous Warp and forced the C'tan and their slaves back with their psychic powers, the weakness of the Star Gods. The Enslavers killed many of the C'tan, leaving the Necrons in disarray and without figureheads to lead them and forcing the C'tan away from the forefront. As the Enslaver plague expanded sections of the galaxy, the four remaining C'tan went into stasis to avoid the onslaught and allow the galaxy to repopulate without the psychic swarm so they could emerge and reconquer their empire. However, this kindled a single-minded determination in the C'tan to eliminate the only threat to their conquest, the Warp. Thus began the Great Work, the severing of the Materium and Immaterium so that the C'tan would go unchallenged once again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The Enslaver Plague.**

The Enslavers, also known as Psyrens, Krell, dominators or puppeteers in different parts of the galaxy, are a race of other-dimensional psychic alien jellyfish from the Immaterium. Enslavers will mind control any unprotected psychic being that they can in order to turn them into living warp portals that more Enslavers can enter the material universe through. This control appears to be psionic in nature. The Enslaver Plague forced the C'tan Star-Gods to withdraw into hibernation, as the Enslavers were killing off all the sentient life that the Star Gods needed for sustenance. It also lead to the downfall of the Old Ones, as the Enslavers infested their last strongholds and destroyed their guardians.

The Enslavers, also known as Psyrens, Krell, dominators or puppeteers in different parts of the galaxy, are a race of other-dimensional psychic alien jellyfish from the Immaterium. Enslavers will mind control any unprotected psychic being that they can in order to turn them into living warp portals that more Enslavers can enter the material universe through. This control appears to be psionic in nature. The Enslaver Plague forced the C'tan Star-Gods to withdraw into hibernation, as the Enslavers were killing off all the sentient life that the Star Gods needed for sustenance. It also lead to the downfall of the Old Ones, as the Enslavers infested their last strongholds and destroyed their guardians.

Enslavers are slightly larger than a grown man, however other size ranges are possible as the former has been the average assessment. These xenos have sac-like bodies which contract with movement and are almost completely transparent, the front is recognizable by numerous tentacles originating from the anterior end and down to the posterior along the bottom. The face of the Enslaver is an almost mask like visage with numerous eye-holes of differing sizes. An Enslaver also possesses the abilty to phase in and out of the Materium as it manifests from a psyker. The creatures possess psykers as daemons would, yet do not show any outward signs of possession, instead working clandestinely to further it's own ends -- ultimately the possession of other psykers to allow the passage of more Enslavers. Unlike daemons, Enslavers can control non-psykers, which they consume the minds of, furthering their own power and allowing the control of more potential slaves. Eventually, with enough Enslavers or one of extraordinary power it may be able to control an entire Hive of humans and then spread across the planet, after which the only acceptable plan of action is Exterminatus.

Upon the death of a possessed psyker, the body is destroyed and the Enslaver emerges, the psyker having served its purpose. Despite the virus-like actions and considerable threat the species represents to the Imperium the Enslavers cannot possess sanctioned psykers as easily due to the preparation their minds have undergone and can be overwhelmed if enough minds are present. Unfortunately the protection sanctionites have is temporary and with enough pressure upon their mind, they will break and be obliterated by the Enslaver. Yet even so, the resistance would be adequate for the psyker and others around them to mount a physical attack.

The Ordo Malleus and Ordo Xenos have a dual interest in Enslavers for their warp origins and their existence as an alien species; Numerous Enslavers were encountered by Inquisition forces in the Scintilla System in 260.993.M41 and subsequently destroyed.


	4. Chapter 4 Eldar

Chapter 4: The Eldar.

_Ok peoples, this is the first update for around … er… six months, so I'm not surprised if no one remembers me. Anyway, sorry, no you don't get an explanation. Let the history lecture begin. _

**Biology**

The Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids - superficially, they appear very similar to humans, though they are generally taller and slimmer, with sharp features and pointed ears. They are long-lived by human standards, and most will live more than a thousand years unless they are killed, by disease or in battle. Eldar also have much faster metabolic rates than humans, and their cardiac and neurological systems are more advanced. These traits manifest in their vastly heightened reactions and agility compared to humans. As a race they have a high level of psychic ability, which serves as the foundation of their technology. The Eldar that actively cultivate their psychic potential seem to exhibit a much-extended lifespan as well, one proportional to their prowess. The Farseers of the Eldar can live for several thousand years. Eldar are mentally far superior to humans, and feel all emotions much more strongly, requiring the Eldar to exercise constant restraint to avoid mental break down.

**History**

Until ten thousand years ago, the Eldar were among the most powerful and dominant races of the galaxy, dominating most of the galaxy. Although there were other races of advanced technology and military power, none were in a position to seriously threaten the state of the Eldar empire- Humanity had not begun its Great Crusade, the Orks were merely pests and the forces of Chaos were kept in check by the Eldar. When it came, the disaster was internal. Consumed by arrogance, the Eldar began to pursue any curiosity or desire. Rapidly, cults devoted to exotic knowledge, physical pleasure, and evermore outrageous entertainment sprang up. Many of the Eldar took a darker path, descending into dark study, instant fulfillment and unbridled violence, beginning the Fall of the Eldar.

Many of the Eldar grew uneasy with the actions of their comrades, and the wisest of the Seers warned that the path could lead only to evil. Disgusted, some of the Eldar left the central worlds of the Empire to settle on the outlying regions, while others stayed to try and alter the path their race had taken.

While this would have been destructive within any society, it was even more damaging for the Eldar. Within the parallel realm of the Warp, the psychic emanations of these activities began to gather, strengthened by the souls of departed followers and cultists. As the Eldar vices grew, this collection did as well, until it eventually came into a life of its own. It finally came to consciousness as Slaanesh, Devourer of Souls and doom to the Eldar, for the psychic scream of its birth tore the souls from all the Eldar within a thousand lightyears of it. Its awakening was so forceful that it tore a hole between physical space and the Warp, plunging the Eldar homeworlds into a limbo of partial existence. This region is now known as the Eye of Terror, and is now the home of the forces of Chaos. Many Eldar survived the Fall and remain trapped within the Eye on the homeworlds of the Eldar, the Crone World, and are enslaved to Slaanesh.

Since this time, which is known only as The Fall, the Eldar have been a broken and scattered people, lacking cohesion and purpose. The Eldar population is constantly dwindling.

The existing Eldar are essentially a refugee population, the scattered remains of their former strength and power. Even in such straits, however, they are still a powerful force in the galaxy.

**Eldar Mythology**

The Eldar are known to be a very spiritual people, and much of their culture is based around their mythological cycles. The most famous of these cycles was the War in Heaven, an epic conflict between the Eldar deities, in two factions lead by Vaul, the god of the forge, and Khaine, the god of war.

With two notable exceptions, the Pantheon of the Eldar is considered to have been destroyed by the birth of Slaanesh. While the Eldar still revere all the gods and preserve their stories within the mythic cycles, they do not call on them for aid or hope for their intervention any longer.

**Technology**

The entirety of Eldar Technology is centered around wraithbone, a semi-living substance called from the warp by Bonesingers. It is used to create the Craftworlds of the Eldar, their tanks and other vehicles, constructs such as the Wraithguard and Wraithlords, and weapons and armor. It is a psychic conductor and so not only provides the structure for the things built of it, but also power distribution and communications. Wraithbone is a highly resilient material, and capable of limited self-repair. It, and the other building materials of the Eldar, will grow and react more like tissue and plants than the building materials of other races, with the possible exception of Necrodermis, the living metal of the Necrons.

_Eldar weaponry will be covered at a later date- if anyone asks me to. It'll take up a LOT of space. Same goes for every race, so get those reviews in please._

When the Eldar die, their souls are in danger of being devoured by Slaanesh. To prevent this, the Eldar wear spirit stones, which capture and contain their souls at the moment of death. These stones are then collected and inserted into the Craftworld's "Infinity Circuit", where they may rest along with the spirits of their ancestors. In times of need, the spirit stones of the Craftworld's strongest warriors may be taken from the Infinity Circuit and placed inside Wraithbone automatons, such as the Wraithguard and Wraithlords, to once again fight for the Craftworld.

Lastly, the Webway. The Eldar do not travel through the Warp in the same manner as other races, having long ago developed a much faster and safer method known as the "Webway". This is a system of ancient "tunnels" through the Warp which is completely isolated from its inherent dangers. It is best imagined as a vast and tangled network of doorways between fixed points in realspace, by which the Eldar can travel far more rapidly than most races. However, if there is no Warpgate near their destination, or the one present is not big enough to permit the necessary forces, they are a disadvantage. Much of the Webway has fallen into obscurity and disrepair, with tunnels and doorways sealed or broken. This often forces the Eldar to make connecting stops on their way to their destination. Finally, it is said that the fabled Black Library of Chaos resides somewhere within the Webway, though only the Harlequins know where.

**Craftworlds**

In the time leading up to the Fall, not all the Eldar that remained on the homeworlds fell into the lure of Slaanesh. Many remained, struggling to turn their species from its doomed path. Unable to do so, many of the greatest Seers caught glimpses of the darkness to come, and undertook a titanic effort to save their people. For each Eldar homeworld a gigantic ship was created, sung from Wraithbone and so massive to be nearly a planetoid itself. The last uncorrupted people from each world were loaded onto these ships, along with works of art, plant life and animals, all that could be saved. In these Craftworlds (as they came be known) the final Eldar Exodus began, and only barely in time. The psychic shockwave caught some of the Craftworlds and destroyed them, while others were pulled into orbit around the Eye of Terror. The rest drift through the galaxy, their exact number uncertain, as contact can be difficult and intermittent.

**Paths**

All Eldar follow a path, mastering all aspects of the craft before turning to another. In this way, the Eldar master many facets of live during their own. Any Eldar who has become completely lost in their path and become Exarchs, doomed to follow the path for ever. This is more common on the Path of the Warrior due to the immense mental pressures involved. There are many paths, but those known to us are:

Path of the seer, in which warlocks, spiritseers and other psychic individuals reside.

Path of the Warrior: The Aspect warriors. Note that this does not include Guardians.

Path of Command: Autarchs reside here, commanding Eldar forces- although they are expected to have mastered several aspects of the Path of the Warrior first.

Path of the Artisan: A craftsman or Bonesinger.

Path of the Mariner: a Pilot of an Eldar spacecraft.

Path of the Outcast: Eldar who are unable to accept the ridgitdity of the Eldar Path will leave the craftworld to become rangers, pirates or possibly fall to Slaanesh.

_If I've missed anything, tell me. Chaos is up next!_


End file.
